•ZAMBIA’S women 400 metres specialist, Kabange Mupopo displays her gold medal at the All Africa Games in Congo Brazzaville. Picture by ELIAS CHIPEPO

By ANTHONY MULOWA and ELIAS CHIPEPO –

GOVERNMENT is proud of athlete Kabange Mupopo for scooping gold in the 400 metres women’s race at the ongoing All Africa Games (AAG) in Congo Brazzaville.
Meanwhile, Zambia’s bid to sneak into the medal bracket of the men’s 4x100m relay final at the AAG backfired badly as the team ended up being disqualified.
Chief Government Spokesperson Chishimba Kambwili said the splendid performance by Mupopo was a source of immense pride and honour to the nation.
Kambwili said Government was particularly excited that Mupopo was now ranked number one in Africa in the women’s 400 metres category as a result of her scintillating performance at the AAG.
“This was after she clocked 50.22 seconds to scoop the first position in the 400 metres women’s final race,” he said.
Kambwili who is Information and Broadcasting Services Minister said Mupopo’s excellence amidst formidable opposition from other athletes around the continent, was testimony that Zambia was a force to reckon with in athletics at international level.
“The victory is also a sign that Government’s ongoing investment in the sports sector is yielding desired results,” he said.
Kambwili said Government was confident that with continued discipline and hard work, the sky was the limit for Mupopo to bring more honours to the nation.
Government also commended the coaching staff, Zambia Amateur Athletics Association (ZAAA) and other collaborators for their support and commitment in grooming Zambia’s athletes to international standards.
He sad it was Government’s resolve to continue prioritising the sports sector as a generator for job and wealth creation.
Meanwhile, the men’s 4x100m relay team was disqualified at the AAG for breaking the rules in the finals.
Initially, it was Nigeria and Mauritius who were disqualified following infringements when exchanging batons outside the zone but a review by the athletics officials showed that Zambia and Nigeria were the two teams in the wrong.
The Tuesday night race saw Ivory Coast win the race followed by Nigeria in second place and Namibia in third while Zambia finished fourth.
Zambian runners, Sydney Siame, Titus Kafunda, Brian Kasinda and Chidamba Hazemba thought they would find themselves in third place by virtue of Nigeria’s disqualification but it was not to be after the final results were withheld.
At first when the flags were raised, one could clearly see the despair on Kafunda’s face as he held his head while Siame walked away in anger after his fourth place finish before he was called back on the track by his team-mates.
But after a long wait of serious deliberations and video reviews, a decision was made that saw Zambia and Nigeria disqualified for breaking the rules during the last exchange of batons.
Coach Douglas Kalembo described the move as sad and that Team Zambia had appealed against the decision.
“The video footage showed Zambia finished third and we are supposed to get silver but we are now surprised that we have been disqualified. We are not happy,” he said.